Harper James lists construction among its practice areas. In England and Wales, adjudication provides a rapid statutory process for resolving disputes arising from construction contracts, often involving payment, delay, extension of time, defects or variations.
Identify the contract, the relevant adjudication clause and the precise question to be decided. The Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 and the applicable adjudication rules set important requirements for notice, referral, timetable and decision-making. Collect the contract, amendments, drawings, specifications, pricing documents, payment notices, applications for payment, programme revisions and relevant correspondence. Explore the latest reference material for related legal and commercial topics.
Adjudicators generally need a clear explanation of what happened, when it happened and which contractual provision applies. Create a dated chronology linking each event to supporting documents. Useful evidence includes site diaries, meeting minutes, instructions, photographs, inspection records, delivery notes, timesheets, progress reports, email chains and records from project-management platforms. Preserve electronic files in their original form where possible, including dates, authors and document history. A short witness statement should explain disputed events, rather than repeat every document.
For a payment dispute, reconcile the application, payment notice, pay less notice, contract valuation and payment certificate. For delay, compare the accepted baseline programme with updates, critical-path analysis, relevant instructions, access records and delay notices. For variations, show the instruction, its contractual authority, the valuation method and the resulting work. Defects require the specification, inspection evidence, expert analysis where necessary, remedial proposals and evidence of cost. Separate agreed facts from disputed facts, and identify gaps before preparing the referral.
Adjudication moves quickly, so organise evidence before issuing the notice of adjudication. Check jurisdiction, limitation provisions, notice requirements and the scope of the dispute. Keep the referral focused, paginate the bundle and use a schedule that ties each submission to a document or witness. Do not rely on volume alone. Recent construction disputes increasingly depend on searchable digital records and contemporaneous project data, but those records still need contractual and factual context. A disciplined evidence file gives the adjudicator a reliable route from the contract to the remedy sought.